Pages

October 18, 2007

ALCS 5: Red Sox 7, Spiders 1

Red Sox - 101 000 230 - 7 12 1Spiders - 100 000 000 - 1 6 1

Beckett: 8-5-1-1-11, 109

Beckett was absolutely amazing tonight -- everything we could have hoped for -- near Pedro-esque in his ability to toy with the Cleveland hitters! Along with a fastball sitting at 95-97 all night long, he also used a devastating 12-to-6 curve that made more than one Spider look like a fool. In the post-season, he now has a BB/K ratio if 1/26.

A Yook dong gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the first, but Cleveland tied the game in the home half. Sizemore doubled, moved to third on Cabrera's single and scored on Hafner's GIDP. After that, only one other Cleveland batter touched second base -- and that was in the ninth inning against Jonathan Papelbon.

Manny was robbed of a two-run dong to right-center in the third, but he did get an RBI out of it -- Boston led 2-1. They held on and broke it open with two in the seventh -- Pedroia double, Youilis triple, Ortiz sac fly -- and three in the eighth -- three walks, an error, a bunt single and another sac fly.

I feel like we're going to win and take it back to Boston and play another day. When you see something's that never been done before, you can believe in anything.

Jason Varitek:

There's a faith. It's like being able to come back late in a game. You have people that have done it, the team has done it, and done it on different occasions. You should have confidence that it can be done.

This team is so loose. That's baseball. We happened to lose three in a row, but we could just as well win three in a row, too. ... Even though we're down, I still think we're set up pretty good.

Yook also echoed Manny Ramirez's thoughts:

You have to have the same mind-set every day in big games. You can't change things. You can try to make adjustments pitch to pitch, but you can't change your approach ... You have to stay calm and collected and you have to have fun. You have to have that energy flowing and be excited to go up there.

Hi everyone. Got called out of town for business, and this is the first time I have been able to be in front of the game with a computer. Only online for another 30 minutes. I really hope we win, because I actually will be able to watch game 6 if it happens.

An Open Letter to Julio Lugo: Dear Julio, looking at your performance so far, I think that in order to be the ALCS MVP, you have to go 15-15 with a couple of home runs in the next three games. It wouldn't hurt to hit for the cycle in one of the games, too.

Alllright. Time for our guys. (I will admit that in 2004 I could not watch the Yankee half-innings in the last four games. I would change the channel and keep changing til the Sox were up again. I haven't gotten to that point tonight, but I do start breathing again at the third Cleveland out.)

Oh look, they called it the "top of the wall" - so isn't that fessing up to the fact that its a HOMER? or is the top of the wall NOT a homer? cause I can remember a couple of HRs from the past two games that hit the top of that very wall!

it was not a home run. It hit off the yellow line, not over it, and bounced back into the field. That is not a home run. It has to either clear the yellow line, or hit the yellow line and bounce into the stands.

A professional broadcast crew starts out by explaining the ground rule. What is the yellow line for? What if the ball hits the top of the wall? I haven't heard that yet. As a fan, I want to know. By the way, most hard hit fly balls have lots of back spin. That might be why it bounced back AFTER HITTING THE TOP OF THE FUCKING WALL!!

"If a park has a yellow line running along the top of the fence, as Coors Field does, the ball must clear the yellow line. If the ball hits any part of the yellow strip and goes over the fence, it is ruled a home run."